Time to escape London and hit the road again, this time to the Kent coastline in the Southeast corner of England to visit the renowned white cliffs of Dover.

Our day didn’t start too well though as our hire car company, which we used for the last driving adventure to the Cotswolds, decided that we were not within their policy rules as we are long term visitors who haven’t been living in our flat for more than six months so we are ineligible to hire with them. As you would expect a stern conversation ensued, pointing out that they had hired us a car three weeks ago. We were then advised that the previous counter staff member had made a judgement error and should not have allowed the transaction to occur. (It was interesting that the staff member who dealt with us the previous time was on the counter next to us but didn’t chime in at all.) But to no avail, we were stuck.

Astoundingly, we were given advice to head across the car park to some of the other car rental companies to see if they could help out. Thankfully Hertz came to the rescue with a rental car in the form of a fully electric Volvo Polestar 2. No issues about our living or holidaying status in the country or our abode. Strange how the rules flex around a bit between companines and in this case, within the same company. “What a palaver!” I’ve been wanting to use that expression for a while. It’s quintessentially English and describes a lot of messing around for no gain.

With a set of wheels sorted out we are off to the south-east coast with our first stop the beautiful area of Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters. It’s our first real visit to the white cliffs of the area and it doesn’t dissapoint. We have been presented with a stunning day of sunshine and no real breeze making the sea flat and the walking of the cliff trails up to Belle Tout Lighthouse a much easier task.

The Belle Tout Lighthouse is purely built with function over form in mind as its by no way a striking example of the lighthouses in the area. If you are keen you can rent it out and stay there. It’s remaining time on the cliff is limited though. Notice in the black & white photo there is a significant crack in the cliff face. Just prior to it was the original walking track which has been taken back by the elements.

From Birling Gap we head to Eastbourne for lunch and a look at their pier. Piers are a commodity along the coastline of Kent with many towns having them as either functional items for sea based industry or they are purely for entertainment of summer crowds and holiday makers. Eastbourne’s is aimed towards entertainment but does have a fishing tackle shop and area to cast out and try your luck.

Stacey and I walk the promenade from Wish Tower to the pier and back and it feels very much like Redcliffe in Queensland where we lived for a few years. The beach is very different from Redcliffe though as it consists of small rocks, not sand, and feels a bit like walking over Lego though not quite as sharp. There’s even an old bandstand on the beach which seems to still be used and kept in pretty good shape.

Our stop for the night is Dover which is a major port for ferries to Europe being only 33km from Calais in France. I was surprised to to be able to see the French coastline from Dover but the perfect weather made it possible. The town is over looked by Dover castle which was built to protect this part of the coastline from invasions. Its impressive with a number of buildings within its walls.

Ok now for the fun part. We are new to fully electric cars having never driven one before and its at this point that we realise we will need to recharge the Polestar as there is not enough range to get us back to London. Near our hotel in Dover we find a kerbside charging bay and work our way through installing Apps, setting up accounts and then start charging. This proves to be the slowest method we could possibly find and is obviously suited to those wanting to charge overnight as at this rate it will take more than 16 hours to recharge the batteries. We leave it for a couple of hours while we settle in to our hotel and enjoy dinner at a nice Italian restaurant by the pier. On our return the charging has added just under 10% to the battery so we decide to seek an alternative.

A quick search shows us a fast charger is available on the hill above Dover so we shut off the current charging and drive up the hill and connect up to a charger promising super fast charging. Well, super fast is a term that needs to be made in context with standard charging as 30 minutes later we are at 90% charge (from 32%). We’ll need to become accustomed to the recharge speeds as it takes only a few minutes to fill a traditional car with fuel and drive off, so planning is the key and something we’ll become accustomed to in the future. Also we found that the Polestar was set to only allow the batteries to be charged up to 90% before shutting off. Apparently this saves the batteries and provides a longer life.

Sunday morning and we are again greeted by great weather. A quick breakfast at the hotel and then into the car and away.

The first point of call is St Margaret’s Beach which is a nice spot to enjoy the morning sun and the view across to Calais. The white cliffs are evident here and are almost shining in the conditions. They are littered with caves, footpaths and tunnels as this was a previous entry point for smugglers. Its also the location where numerous swimmers have commenced their journey across to France. But be warned the road down to the waterline is steep and winding. Its not suitable for caravans or motor homes with even the Polestar needing to make a three point turn to negotiate one of the hairpin curves.

Our next stop along the coastline is at Deal where there is Deal castle which is an unusual Tudor style and has a number of canons mounted around its perimeter. It was built by order of Henry VIII to protect invaders from France and the Roman Empire. Deal itself is a quiet seaside town that has not quite woken up at the time of our arrival. A coffee on the waterfront and a walk through town was pleasant enough.

On the road to our next point of call at Margate, we are using the Sandwich Bypass Road when we saw a sign post providing directions to Ham. Now we just need the towns of Cheese and Corn Relish to make one of my favourite lunches…

Margate is the final point of call on the coast line. To be honest its a tired looking town that was probably a good tourist spot in its heyday as there is a nice beach area that has sand instead of rocks. We might have visited on a bad day but there were no stand out features, but at the same time there were no detracting items either.

So it was time to start heading back towards London, but not before dropping into Canterbury to take some photos of their cathedral. We parked and headed towards it only to find the “Photographer’s Curse” had been bestowed upon it. Yep, scaffold! There is major cleaning and repair work happening at the cathedral with a good portion of the building obscured. Never mind, a future visit may be on the cards, in the meantime frame the shots to minimise the ugly steel cage.

On the final leg back to London we stop to charge the car up again as you realise that 240 miles is not a lot of range. Another 30 minutes of waiting to get the capacity back up to over 90% gives me time to reflect on the Polestar 2. Its great to drive, comfortable, quiet and has enough poke to keep things interesting, all in all a good thing. But hiring one is a bit of a let down if you are on a tight schedule. Looking for fast charging stations is still stressful and, with the growth in EVs on the road, the demand for charging points is greater than I expected. Owning one where you can slow charge at home over night makes a lot more sense. Maybe one day, but for us at this point in time, a hybrid would still get the nod.